Jo Tongo

Paris in the 1970s and 80s was a hotbed of multicultural creativity, as musician’s from the ex-colonies traveled there to try and find their fortune. There was the Maghrebi scene of course, where Raï music and Kabyle mixed with rock, funk, and disco. Less numerous but no less fiery was the Cameroonian set, exemplified by the great Manu Dibango, Tala AM, and Jo Tongo. The latter arrived in Paris from Douala in 1964, and quickly abandoned his pharmaceutical studies to dive into the city’s music scene. And good job he did, because the blend of 1970s funk, Afrobeat, and Cameroonian folk he cooked up is pure gold, with the incredibly catchy “Jangolo,” and groovy dancefloor fillers “Piani” and “A’Muna” sounding as fresh today as they did fifty years ago.